Bought this puzzle a week ago. Naughty me! Oh, well. I really enjoyed laying it. Took 3½ hours a late night (finished around 2 a.m.).
Manufacturer: Jumbo (#01433)
Dimensions: 345 x 485mm
No. of pieces: 500 pieces
Series: None
Artist: Jan van Haasteren
Bought condition: New
Completed: 27-01-2012
All pieces present: Yes
Damage: None
Mending: None
Jan van Haasteren: Fire!
A quick puzzle due to the firetruck, which takes up a lot of the picture and is in a unique colour. I love comic puzzles, as there is so much to discover within the puzzle as you lay it. With a 500 piece, I also get to puzzle in bed or the sofa. And yes, I did find the shark fin… (van Haasteren’s trade mark)
Tags: Puzzles
Found this in my stash. Never laid it before. I like the motive, but not the PerfaLock pieces (has foam on the back). So no more of those, but I would like more puzzles with North American nature scenes. It’s different to what I have most of.
Manufacturer: Wrebbit
Dimensions: 339 x 454mm
No. of pieces: 500 pieces
Series: None
Designer: John Dawson
Bought condition: Used
Tags: Puzzles
I found the German Puzzle forum (Puzzlefreunde.de) and through that the German puzzle web shop “Puzzle Online“. Browsing through their catalogue I found these four mini-puzzles. I fell in love with “Danse Macabre” and ended up buying three of the other four.
Manufacturer: Heye (#29319-22)
Dimensions: 105 x 297mm
No. of pieces: 75 pieces
Series: Alchemy Gothic
Artist:
Bought condition: New
Completed: 09-01-2012
All pieces present: Yes
Damage: None
Mending: None
Here are some half-bad photos of the finished puzzles.
The names are: Wallachain Reign, Danse Macabre, Vindicta Pendragon and Witness to the Rites.
I love the very different theme of these puzzles. Lovely when you are sick and tired of the “usual” stuff.
Tags: Puzzles
This is set was bought via eBay in 2004/5.
Manufacturer: JR Childrens
Dimensions: 324 x 229mm
No. of pieces: 200 pieces
Series: “Seasons”
Artist: Robert Salmon
Bought condition: Used
Completed: 07-01-2012
All pieces present: Yes
Damage: None
Mending: None
Nice, easy puzzles. Perfect for an evening in the sofa.
Tags: Puzzles
Still haven’t finished the “Once Upon a Time” puzzle, but have gotten further than a few years ago… Have about 150 pieces left. This is an older photo. At least one piece missing. Probably lost when the cat jumped up on it in 2005 and scattered all the pieces in my old apartment. Too bad.
James Christensen's Once Upon a Time puzzle
Tags: Puzzles
I started laying puzzles again, but this time around I also did some Googling to find others with the same hobby. Not that easy, it turned out. This is what I found:
Puzzle.su - a Russian puzzle forum (link with Google translate in English)
Puzzlefrunde.de - a German forum
Blogs:
Steam trains and jigsaws - a puzzle fan focussing on puzzles with steam trains
My Jigsaw Life - an American blog
Puzzle-Wahnsinn - a German blog (old link)
Puzzle-Wahnsinn - a German blog (new link)
Tags: Puzzles
Wanting to read something other than “the usual” I have found these groups on LibraryThing recently (similar may also be on GoodReads).
Perhaps they might help others, too? You don’t need to be a member to steal the idea, but if you do have access to see the groups, you might find ideas for books, too.
Fifty States Fiction (or Nonfiction) Challenge
Read a book for each of the 50 states in the USA.
The Europe Endless Challenge
Reading your way through all countries in Europe!
Canadian Fiction/Non-Fiction Reading Challenge
Read your way across Canada’s provinces and territories.
Erlesenes Deutschland
Read across Germany (all Bundesländer)
Don’t like “US, Europe, Germany or Canada” as a challenge - why not choose your own country?
Reading Globally and Reading Globally II (US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia)
Try to read each country in the world.
(They have devided the world into parts - e.g. Africa is devided into 6 areas)
Alphabet Challenges
Read the Alphabet (authors and/or titles)
Read at least one book about every single US president from George Washington to the one elected next year (Obama or a new president) - before the 2016 election.
Don’t want to read about US presidents? Choose other types of rulers/politicians from somewhere else - time/location.
The 11 in 11 Category Challenge
Read books from 11 different categories in 2011. The number of books per category is entirely up to you, and it need not be the same number for each category (e.g., “step” challenges are fine). (I guess there will be a 12 in 12-group, too. Not to early to start thinking about categories - members have very inventive categories.)
Here are some inventive examples of categories for 11 in 11:
- Authors that are new to me
- National authors
- Books that have been patiently waiting in my TBR (To Be Read) pile for 6 months or more.
- Books that have been listed for notable prizes.
- Books set in Asia (reader tends to read UK/US-ish)
- Books that catch my eye
- Books from a series (doesn’t have to be the same series)
- Recommendations from someone/somewhere
- Travel writing (category walled: Wanderlust)
- Books made into movies.
- A Book I Previously Failed To Finish (just 1 book in this category)
- Books that have no reviews on (some book site) yet
- White Books - Have love, life, light or laugh (or variations) in the title for my bright side
- Black Books - Have dead, death, night or dark (or variations) in the title for my dark side
- Oldies - any book with a copyright before I was born
- The Irish
- The Sea, Shipwrecks, Pirates and Survival
- Non-Fiction
- Translated books
- Books in another language
- Short Story Collections
- Re-reads
- Autumn/Halloween Reads
- Spotlight on (author - perhaps recently deceased)
- Books about conflict, war, survival
- Young at Heart - YA and Children’s fiction
- Jewish writers
- Books set on the European continent
- Books that I have discovered from blogs, sites, other books, writers etc.
- Down Under - Australian and New Zealand fiction
- Magic in the Air: Folklore, fairytale, myths: retellings, anthologies, academic etc.
Some people have chosen to read 11 books in each category, other have settled for 4 (so 44 books in 1 year). Others have decided on 1 in category no. 1, 2 in no. 2, etc. (so 66 in a year).
You can choose whatever categories you want and as you decide the rules, you can rule that a certain book fits into a specific category. I read about one guy who wanted to read about January’s snow, cold and ice in January. He fit a book into that category that didn’t fit with the “snow, cold and ice”, but where the protagonist was called “January”.
One tip: When choosing categories, don’t limit yourself unnecessarily. E.g. if you want to read about Abraham Lincoln, don’t make the category solely about him - include the time he lived in, too. That way you don’t get into trouble if you all of a sudden want to read about the American Civil War (where he was president). Better safe than sorry.
My mother tends to read very “white” (caucasian) and UK (1066-1900)/US (1800-1940). These are her categories:
1. War (the act and times)
2. Non-Anglo Saxon (i.e. not US/UK Caucasian)
3. Not of this world (SFF and pseudo-sciences)
4. Women Writers
5. Prized books (anything shortlisted for a prize of some sorts)
6. Rainbow (colour in the title)
7. Forensic Science (mysteries and non-fiction)
8. Not known lives (biographies of people she does not know/know very well)
9. Series (next in a series or about series, e.g. serialkillers)
10. Four elements (personalities or “Earth, Water, Fire and Air”)
11. For my own sake (anything else!)
She wants to see if she can read at least 3-4 books per category. So far, she needs to find some for category 5 and 6. The others are starting to look ok, and 3-4 categories have reached the min. 3-4 books (and have more). She still gets to read “white UK/US”, but must read something else, too this year. Focusing on this challenge will probably make her read more things that she normally wouldn’t stumble upon.
I’m still working on my 11 categories… but I think I will partiicpate for 12 in 12.
As for the other challenges, I cannot see why I can’t start on them, too. Just to see how far I get over time. One book can easily fit into several challenges! Why waste a title? 
And I don’t care if I read them in print, on the Kindle or hear them as an audiobook.
Tags: Audiobooks, Books
On my iPod at the moment I am reading “The Science of James Bond: From Bullets to Bowler Hats to Boat Jumps, the Real Technology Behind 007’s Fabulous Films” by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weiberg.
I have read some of their other books:
The Science of Superheroes (2005)
The Science of Supervillains (2004)
The book is about the gadgets in the movies, not the books. Quite fun to see that I thought were movies that were always at the forefront of technology in many cases weren’t that high tech at all. (I obviously didn’t see many of them when they first came out, but only years later.)
Learn about why Bond has a Walther PPK and not a spcialized gun, what a dirty bomb is and cars that become invisible or can turn into a submarine. Delightful light reading. Written for the layman.
The book follows in the footsteps of the books by Laurence M. Krauss:
The Physics of Star Trek (1995)
Beyond Star Trek: From Alien Invasions to the End of Time (1997)
All great books if you have just a bit of a nerdy strain within you.
Tags: Audiobooks, Books
Just finished a book called “Mousetrapped: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida” by Catherine Ryan Howard. At 24 Catherine from Cork, Ireland went to Florida to work for a hotel by Disney World for 18 months. She writes in a very engaging way so you end up green - not the colour of Ireland, but with envy - and wishing you had done that when you where younger.
Mousetrapped - the book
It is not a book about Disney, but about living and working in the tourist industry in Orlando. That part of Florida might be most known by some for Disney World, but there is also Universal Studio Theme Park, Kennedy Space Center, The Holy Land Experience (a religious theme park), Sea World, Gatorland and Celebration (Disney-built town).
To me it was a nice light summer read. As a Dane I have no problems with her spectator comments on the Christian religion (Catherine calls herself an atheist), but I can see how some Americans could easily choke on it.
The ending might be a bit weak, but in all a good read - I totally agree with the 4 stars (of 5) that readers have given the book at Amazon.
The only part of the book that troubled me was reading about her learning to drive - given the strict law in Denmark about how to learn this, the relaxed fashion she describes (ok, she doesn’t quite do it according to Florida law) is quite disturbing - but then I do like to play it safe when it comes to traffic and am greatful that new drivers in Denmark start out in “the crib” nowadays.
Extra material (cut chapter and photos) can be found on the book’s website.
Price in hardback and paperback are around 13-14$, whereas the Kindle version is only 3$.
The author has a new book coming out soon about her backpack adventure across Central America - right after her Florida adventure. She has also published an apparently good book about selfpublishing
Tags: Books
About a year ago I was converted - I found out what all the fuss over knitted dishcloths was all about. After knitting several collections from another designer, I decided to create my own. As she then stopped designing, I had plenty of time to make my own, as I no longer knit hers. 
I started out by designing some easy ones - Basic Math, Advanced Math and Finance. All were created with a colleague of mine (controller engaged to a mathmatician) in mind.
My Basic Math dishcloth collection
The set contains the following 9 dishcloths:
plus, minus, multiply, divide, equal, greater than, less than or equal to, parenthesis and calculator.
My Advanced Math dishcloth collection
The set contains the following 9 dishcloths:
pi, sigma, square root, delta, exponent, function, infinity, integral and partial derivative.
My Finance dishcloth collection
The set contains the following 10-11 dishcloths: Dollars, Pounds, Yen, Euro, Percentage, Coin (Cent) w/vertical bar (US), Coin (Cent) w/o vertical bar (non-US), Bank Note, Piggy Bank, Vault and Purse.
The cloths are 16,5 cm2 , knitted in pure cotton and can be used in the kitchen or bathroom. Some even make bibs out of them or use them as squares for a blanket. The patterns are sold in my Ravelry store for 3,50 $ a collection (containing 9-11 cloths with both chart and written pattern).
Tags: dishcloths, Knitting